Amare Stoudemire has lived a rough life. He is not a rough person.

He is constantly proving that. Showing love, he calls it.

Everywhere he goes, it's the same. People want to test the 6-foot-10 Cypress Creek basketball phenom.

The fans want to know if he's a monster, as his powerful game and turbulent life suggest. And then they want to know if Stoudemire's hype -- one of the best high schoolers in America, a surefire NBA lottery pick in June, if he wants -- is a myth.

Monster or myth. Those are the choices they give Stoudemire.

Chaos intrudes the basketball gym when he enters. The gym becomes some kind of weird, sophomoric playpen for fans.

Every audible fan remark is drenched with ridicule.

"You ain't nuthin'!" is a common bellow, as are boos, and this behavior trickles into the entire crowd, even adults.

It would be too much for most high school seniors, or even 45-year-olds, to handle -- the agitating, the tests of patience -- but this is Stoudemire.

"It's fun, man," Stoudemire says of the crowds. "It makes the game fun. I'm cool with it."

He has lived a rough life. He is not a rough person.

After a recent road game, Cypress Creek assistant coach Bernard Mitchell looked at head coach Earl Barnett and said: "Coach, I couldn't do it. The same people that sit here and boo boo boo Amare are asking for autographs after the game. Or they got the camera, saying, 'This is Amare Stoudemire.' "

At 18 years old, Stoudemire gets it. The "it" is this: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember that holy piece of advice?

Often, it becomes: Do unto others until they do unto you. Or: Do unto others before they do unto you.

If you don't know Stoudemire, it's easy to judge him by all that surrounds him. It's easy to talk about the 23 times his mother, Carrie, has been arrested. It's easy to recall how he has gone to five high schools the past three years and had to sit out the bulk of two years because of academic problems and struggled with people who tried to latch onto his NBA-bound future.

On the court, Stoudemire is so mean, so dominating, so aggressive. He has that mean streak great players need. He doesn't want to simply outplay you; he wants to beat you to near submission. Though there's much polish to be put on his game, he has shown that he is not a myth.

Must be a monster then.

There are two ways to treat a monster. Stay away and then run when it comes near. Or poke and prod the monster, get him to explode with anger, capitalize on the emotional weakness and cut it down to size.

The latter is the crowd's intent every time Stoudemire visits.

When they get him to that boiling point, a funny thing happens.

Nothing.

Maybe he's not a monster.

And maybe all the hardships are not at the core of who Stoudemire is. He might forever be defined by some of those things, which is sad. It also just might be part of his extraordinary tale: He stayed straight despite all the crookedness around him and still lived his dream.

Nobody talks much about that aspect of Stoudemire. He could have -- probably should have -- given up long ago, but he hasn't.

He has lived a rough life. He's not a rough person.

After a game at University High two weeks ago, Stoudemire was putting on his wrinkled white shirt when a woman approached him with a video camera.

He hugged the woman as her friend recorded the moment.

"He's so nice, too," the woman behind the camcorder said.

"Mmm hmmm," the other woman replied.

Stoudemire grinned. Kindest words he heard all night.

There is a point of contention in the Clancy family. Sam Jr. claims to have beaten his father in basketball for the first time when he was 15.

``If you ask him, he'll disagree,'' said Sam Jr. ``But that was the case.''

Sure enough, Sam Sr. begs to differ. He said his son didn't defeat him until he was a junior at Lakewood St. Edward High School, making him ``16 or 17.''

There is no disagreement as to the last time Clancy beat his son. It was two years ago when Sam Sr., now 43, made one final stand.

Clancy, a former defensive end for the Browns, is now quite content to watch his son play. Clancy Jr. is a senior forward at Southern Cal who likely will be a first-round pick in June's NBA Draft.

Should Clancy Jr. make the NBA, he'll be fulfilling a dream that eluded his father. Yes, Clancy had a solid NFL career with Seattle (1982-83), the Browns (1985-88) and Indianapolis (1989-93). But he would have traded it for a decade in the NBA.

``Basketball was his first love,'' said Clancy Jr. ``But he had to feed his family.''

Clancy, now defensive line coach for the New Orleans Saints, was a rugged college basketball player at Pittsburgh. He was drafted by Phoenix in the third round of the 1981 NBA Draft, and was the last player cut in training camp.

Determined to make the NBA, Clancy joined the CBA's Billings (Mont.) Volcanos for the 1981-82 season. One could say the CBA is where Clancy really got a reputation for hitting hard.

In a late-season game, Montana forward Ronnie Valentine elbowed Clancy while going after a rebound. Valentine then mouthed off to the 6-foot-7, 265-pounder. Clancy decked him with one punch, sending Valentine to the hospital with a fractured cheekbone and earning Clancy a three-week suspension.

``I was a very physical player,'' Clancy said. ``(Valentine) elbowed the wrong guy. He got cocky and I cracked him.''

NFL scouts soon took notice. By the next fall, Clancy, who was a high-school football star in Pittsburgh but only played in a few spring practices at the University of Pittsburgh, was a member of the Seattle Seahawks.

Clancy ended up making four consecutive playoff appearances with the Browns. But that didn't mean he wanted his son in shoulder pads.

``I kind of led him into playing basketball,'' Clancy said. ``When he was 6 years old, and I was with the Browns, I remember limping home with ankle problems. I was thinking I didn't want that to happen to him. I'm real proud of how he's done in basketball.''

When Clancy Jr. plays, the only people getting banged up are USC's opponents. Clancy Jr. is averaging 17.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. In Thursday's 97-80 loss at Arizona, he had 30 points and 11 rebounds.

The 6-foot-7, 240-pound Clancy Jr., whose long arms make him seem taller, threw down dunks all night long against the Wildcats. He was having a lot more fun than he would have had sitting on an NBA bench. Clancy Jr. was an early entry candidate for last year's draft before he withdrew to return to USC for his senior season.

``I thought I needed another year of seasoning,'' said Clancy Jr., who, being undersized for a power forward, needs to improve his outside shot and his ballhandling. ``My situation was a little different than most players. I'm financially set because of my parents, so there was no rush.''

Playing 11 seasons in the NFL has allowed Clancy, who divorced his son's mother in 1994, to provide well for Sam Jr. While Sam Jr. continued to live in Fairview with his mother, Anetta Harris, he remained close to his father.

The two talk on the phone about three times a week. Clancy has seen his son play in person only a few times, because he is so busy with football. But he catches nearly every game on television or listens on the Internet.

Clancy on Friday attended a game at St. Edward involving another son, Samario, a 6-4 junior who is averaging 14 points and 12 rebounds. With the football season over, Clancy is making preparations to see some USC games. Maybe he'll also find time for another one-on-one game against Sam Jr.

``He uses all those old-man tricks against me,'' said Clancy Jr. ``He's always getting physical. He's always telling me how much tougher he was as a player than me.''

That's not all bad. The elder Clancy sometimes thought he was playing football even when wearing a tank top.

Trivia time

Clancy was the second player the Suns drafted in 1981 since they didn't have a first-round pick. Name the future All-Star taken by Phoenix in the first round.

Short jumpers

Wanting to give experienced players plenty of playing time to see if they could get the Cavaliers into playoff contention, head coach John Lucas declared January ``veteran's month.'' It's become a vicious month. The hapless Cavs won their first game of the month, but have since lost nine in a row, with the average margin being 14.1 points. By the time February rolls around, expect Lucas to start taking long looks at rookies DeSagana Diop and Jeff Trepagnier. Ricky Davis, who becomes a free agent after the season, might get even more minutes. Veteran forward Tyrone Hill, due back soon from a back injury, presents an interesting dilemma since he's not part of the team's long-term future. But it would make sense to showcase Hill, whose contract expires after next season, for a possible trade.

Cavs forward Brian Skinner seems to be a conservative guy. He's well-spoken, using words such as ``docile'' in everyday conversation. But evidently Skinner has a wild side. He has a pierced tongue. ``I got it two years ago in California,'' he said. ``Why not?'' Skinner knows of no other Cav who wears such jewelry. Skinner keeps his piercing in during games, saying it presents no additional risk of injuring his tongue.

Denver rookie center Chris Anderson, a member of the Cavs' most recent summer-league team, had 17 points and nine rebounds last week at Utah. But don't blame the Cavs for giving up on Anderson. They saw some potential in Anderson, and he accepted an invitation to veteran's camp. But Anderson bolted at the last minute to Phoenix's camp. He eventually was waived by the Suns. The Nuggets signed him after a short stint in the NBDL.

Trivia answer

In the first round in 1981, Phoenix drafted Larry Nance, who went on to become one of the top players in Cavs history.

At some point in the next two months, Pat Riley will break away from the Discovery Channel and the History Channel and turn to college basketball.

The Heat coach admits to not being much of a sports fan, preferring educational television over everything except NBA games. But this year he most likely will find himself in a spot he has never been in his 20 seasons as a head coach.

Unless the Heat somehow qualify for the playoffs, Riley will be faced with making the most important pick in his seven seasons (six drafts) with the Heat -- a lottery pick.

"We're moving in that direction," Riley said about preparing extensive reports on all the projected early picks. "We're not too far away from realizing we can or can't make the playoffs. We'll definitely take a different approach when we get on the road to scout."

That approach will be handled by General Manager Randy Pfund and Player Personnel Director Chet Kammerer. On average, Pfund attends two college games a week. Kammerer sees more. Three regional scouts also contribute, but Pfund said Riley prefers a limited number of scouts because he "doesn't want 10 people coming back, all with different opinions."

The scouting does not stop on college campuses or at the NCAA Tournament, especially for lottery teams. Last season, three of the first four picks were high school seniors. Rising stars like Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and Memphis' Pau Gasol make scouting the European leagues essential.

This season's biggest question is whether 7-foot-5 Yao Ming of China will be released by his country to enter the draft.

Some teams believe Ming, who will be 22 at the time of the draft, will be the No. 1 pick over Duke point guard Jason Williams. Ming has unusual athletic ability and NBA skills for his size.

Pfund said the Heat are monitoring the Ming situation. "We are very tied into the people we think will represent him." Pfund made a special trip to Australia last summer to watch Ming at the Olympics, and Kammerer also saw him play. Pfund will travel to China in the next few months for another look.

The Heat could have a dependable crop of point guards available to fill what will be their biggest need. Williams almost certainly will be the top college player picked, but Illinois' Frank Williams and Boston College's Troy Bell are working their way up on draft lists.

Other early candidates for the top 10 include Western Kentucky's Chris Marcus, Missouri's Kareem Rush, Kentucky's Tayshaun Prince and Duke's Mike Dunleavy.

Typically, Pfund will see every player the Heat consider a lottery pick at least once, in case of a trade. The closest Miami got to drafting a lottery player was in 1999, when a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers was being discussed that would have meant the Heat would pick Lamar Odom.

When the top players are identified this season, Pfund will spend more time at their games during the conference and NCAA tournaments.

"You'd throw a little more into the guys at the top if you realized you had a chance at a lottery pick," said Pfund, who added that he will try to see each of the top players up to four times.

Since Riley arrived, the Heat have not had a pick higher than No. 25. In half of his six drafts, they did not have a first-round pick.

Miami has drafted eight players under Riley. Eddie House (No. 37 in 2000) and Ernest Brown (No. 52 in 2000) are the only survivors with the Heat. Riley has traded seven players who were selected by Miami, four of whom he inherited.

"We've never been in this position," Pfund said. "But we may know soon."

Marc Stein writes a bit of a biography on Kendrick Perkins for the Dallas Morning News, who has a shot at being the #1 pick in 2003.  Perkins is only junior at Beaumont Ozen, but is already attracting NBA scouts and the Next Shaq label.  At 6'11", 260 pounds, Perkins has the size to be a legitimate NBA center at 17 years old.  He also has a good hook shot, agility and floor speed.  The only question mark surrounding him at the moment is his intensity, though scouts seem to believe that is something he will acquire with age (how intense can you be when you can open games with a 38-0 streak?).